UPDATE 12/19/2011 FCC Commissioner Delivers Warning On Threat To ‘Internet Freedom’

UPDATE 12/19/2011 -The lone Republican on the FCC issues a dire warning about the future of the internet.  In order to understand how dangerous this is to our freedom in America, please read my other posts about this FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski, as well as the other 2 Democrat members of the FCC that are more than willing to destroy the internet as we know it.~ 

(One of the audio posts at the bottom of the page is set to start when the page loads and I am unable to disable that so please scroll to bottom to pause/stop it...Thanks!)

FCC Commissioner Delivers Warning On Threat To ‘Internet Freedom’

By Tim Devaney

The Washington Times

Monday, December 19, 2011

The United States is unprepared for an international fight that’s brewing over whether the Internet will remain free from government regulations or fall increasingly under the control of emerging global powers, Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell warned Monday

“The proponents of Internet freedom and prosperity have been asleep at the switch,” Mr. McDowell, the lone Republican serving at the FCC, told editors and reporters at The Washington Times. “Or maybe I should say asleep at the router.”

The 193-member International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a U.N. agency, will meet in Dubai next December to renegotiate the 24-year-old treaty that deals with international oversight of the Internet. A growing number of countries are pushing greater governmental control and management of the Web’s availability, financial model and infrastructure.

They believe the current model is “dominated” by the U.S., and want to “take that control and power away,” Mr. McDowell said. China and Russia support the effort, but so do non-Western U.S. allies such as Brazil, South Africa and India.

“Thus far, those who are pushing for new intergovernmental powers over the Internet are far more energized and organized than those who favor the Internet freedom and prosperity,” he said.

While growth of the Internet has exploded under a minimal regulatory model over the past two decades, “significant government and civil society support is developing for a different policy outlook,” according to an analysis by lawyers David Gross and M. Ethan Lucarelli on the legal intelligence website www.lexology.com.

“Driven largely by the global financial troubles of recent years, together with persistent concerns about the implications of the growth of the Internet for national economies, social structures and cultures, some governments and others are now actively reconsidering the continuing viability of liberalization and competition-based policies,” they wrote.

Mr. McDowell is trying to halt that trend. He has met with State Department Ambassador Philip Verveer and Assistant Secretary of Commerce Larry Strickling, two people who will determine the country’s role in this debate.

“They’re very well aware of it,” Mr. McDowell said. “The Obama administration is in the right position. But my concern is that we’re behind the curve.”

A bad treaty - which would need the support of only a bare majority of U.N. members to pass and which the United States could not veto - could bring “a whole parade of problems,” Mr. McDowell said.

The U.S. and other Western democracies would likely “opt out” of the treaty, he predicted, leading to a “Balkanization” of the global information network. Governments under the treaty would have greater authority to regulate rates and local access, and such critical emerging issues as cybersecurity and data privacy standards would be subject to international control.

Mr. McDowell said the treaty could open the door to allowing revenue-hungry national governments to charge Internet giants such as Google, Facebook and Amazon for their data traffic on a “per click” basis. The more website visitors those companies get, the more they pay.

The FCC commissioner said he is trying to sound the alarm about the U.N. effort because he believes the Internet has thrived precisely because of the absence of central government control.

In 1988, when the treaty was signed, fewer than 100,000 people used the Internet, Mr. McDowell said. Shortly after it was privatized in 1995, that number jumped to 16 million users. As of this year, it is up to 2 billion users, with another 500,000 joining every day.

Read More - Continued The Washington Times

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FCC Commissioner Tells BBC: “American Media Has A Bad Case Of Substance Abuse”

In an interview to air tonight on BBC World News America, FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps describes American journalism as having reached “its hour of grave peril.”
 
Copps, who will speak at the Columbia University School of Journalism tomorrow suggests government control may be the answer to ensure that American citizens have access to news and information. Copps says for years, a lack of “oversight of the media” has resulted in an era with nonstop cable news–but, in his belief, far less actual news being covered–less news now than we had access to five years ago:

It’s a pretty serious situation that we’re in. I think American media has a bad case of substance abuse right now. We are not producing the body of news and information that democracy needs to conduct its civic dialogue, we’re not producing as much news as we did five years, 10 years, 15 years ago and we have to reverse that trend or I think we are going to be pretty close to denying our citizens the essential news and information that they need to have in order to make intelligent decisions about the future direction of their country.

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F.C.C. Commissioner Proposes ‘Public Values Test’

 1202/2010

Michael J. Copps, one of the four Michael J. Copps, one of the four commissioners on the Federal Communications Commission, is proposing a “public value test” for television and radio stations that he thinks should replace the current licensing process.

He said the test “would get us back to the original licensing bargain between broadcasters and the people: in return for free use of airwaves that belong exclusively to the people, licensees agree to serve the public interest as good stewards of a precious national resource.”

Mr. Copps will formally make the proposal Thursday in an address at Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism. It is his latest attempt to pull people’s attentions back to the public interest requirements of local stations at a time when he believes American journalism is in “grave peril.”

Mr. Copps, a Democratic commissioner since 2001, has long condemned media consolidation and the cutting of journalistic resources. In Thursday’s prepared remarks, he criticized the casual nature of the current license renewal process for stations and said a “public value test” would strengthen the process. His intent, he said, is to foster “a renewed commitment to serious news and journalism.”

There was no immediate indication Thursday about whether the other four F.C.C. commissioners would consider the proposal.

The first tenet of Mr. Copps’ proposed test would be “meaningful commitments” to news and public affairs programming. “These would be quantifiable and not involve issues of content interference,” Mr. Copps said.

“Increasing the human and financial resources going into news would be one way to benchmark progress. Producing more local civic affairs programming would be another. Our current children’s programming requirements — the one remnant of public interest requirements still on the books — helped enhance kids’ programming. Now it is time to put news and information front-and-center,” he said.

Other tenets of the test would include enhanced disclosure about each station’s performance; meaningful increases in local programming; and evidence of a detailed plan for news coverage in the event of an emergency or disaster.

With regards to local programming, Mr. Copps said, “the goal here is a more localism in our program diet, more local news and information, and a lot less streamed-in homogenization and monotonous nationalized music at the expense of local and regional talent.” He added, “Homogenized music and entertainment from huge conglomerates constrains creativity, suppresses local talent, and detracts from the great tapestry of our nation’s cultural diversity.” He suggested that 25 percent of prime time programming should be locally or independently-produced.

Mr. Copps also proposed that the F.C.C. should “determine the extent of its current authority” to compel stations to disclose who pays for anonymous political ads. “And if we lack the tools we need to compel disclosure, let’s go ask for them,” he said.

Mr. Copps said the “public value test” should occur every four years. Currently, stations have to renew their licenses every eight years.

He proposed that if a station fails the test, “it goes on probation for a year, renewable for an additional year if it demonstrates measurable progress. If the station fails again, give the license to someone who will use it to serve the public interest.”

In an interview with “BBC World News America” that was broadcast Wednesday, the anchor Katty Kay anticipated what critics may say about Mr. Copps’ proposal. Ms. Kay asked, doesn’t a “public value test”

“raise the specter of over government control of information? I mean, people would say to you, ‘Well, what one person’s public value is is not another person’s.’ ”

Mr. Copps answered, “What we’ve had in recent years is an aberration where we have had no oversight of the media. For years and years we had some public interest guidelines that was part of the quid pro quo between broadcasters and the government for the free use of airwaves that belong to the American people and in return for that free use, and the ability to make a lot of money, they agreed to serve the public interest and that public interest to me right now is crying ‘news and information, news and information, news and information.’ “

Source:New York Times

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What I find interesting about this video of FCC Commissioner Michael J Copps speaking at this "Free Press" summit is his opening statement. He tells the audience that every year his favorite group to speak to is his friends at Free Press.  He goes on to tout the work they've been doing in the Progressive movement to transform media.  To understand why this is disturbing, you have to understand who Free Press is and what their ultimate goal is.

I will add some links at the bottom of this section to introduce you to the "Progressive" Free Press.

Free Press Summit: Changing Media -- Michael Copps

http://freepress.net/summit/archive

Free Press Summit: Changing Media
May 14, 2009
The Newseum, Washington DC

Michael Copps, Acting FCC Chairman

Michael J. CoppsMichael J. Copps is the acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. He was sworn in for his second term as a member of the FCC on Jan. 3, 2006, and has served as a commissioner since May 31, 2001. 

Copps served until Jan­uary 2001 as assistant secretary of commerce for trade development at the U.S. Department of Commerce. In that role, Copps worked to improve market access and market share for nearly every sector of American industry, including information technologies, telecom­munications, aerospace, automotive, environmental technologies, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles, service industries and tourism. 

Copps devoted much of his time to building private-public sector partnerships to enhance our nations success in the global economy. From 1993 to 1998, Copps served as deputy assistant secretary for basic industries, a component of the Trade Development Unit. Copps moved to Washington in 1970, joined the staff of Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.), and served for more than a dozen years as administrative assistant and chief of staff.

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~THE FCC AND THE INTERNET~

For those that don't know, earlier this year, the FCC was embroiled in a lawsuit with Comcast regarding this very thing...net neutrality. What is significant about that is the FCC LOST the case.  In other words, the FCC is completely disregarding the ruling on that case. The FCC is broadening it's attempt to regulate the internet even though the courts told them they don't have the authority to do so.

The following articles involve the FCC's attempt to control the internet:

FCC Loses Key Ruling on Internet Neutrality

           Published April 06, 2010

At the heart of the court case is Comcast's challenge of a 2008 FCC order banning it from blocking subscribers from using BitTorrent. The commission, at the time headed by Republican Kevin Martin, based its order on a set of net neutrality principles adopted in 2005.

But Comcast argued that the FCC order was illegal because the agency was seeking to enforce mere policy principles, which don't have the force of regulations or law. That's one reason that Genachowski is now trying to formalize those rules.

The cable company had also argued the FCC lacks authority to mandate net neutrality because it had deregulated broadband under the Bush administration, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court in 2005.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/06/fcc-loses-key-ruling-internet-neutrality/#ixzz17533Dyfx

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12/2/10 FBN's Dennis Kneale on the FCC's multi-billion dollar broadband plan that subsidizes rural phone service.

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 EDITORIAL: Wave goodbye to Internet freedom 

FCC crosses the Rubicon into online regulation

By THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The Washington Times       7:02 p.m., Thursday, December 2, 2010

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is poised to add the Internet to its portfolio of regulated industries. The agency's chairman, Julius Genachowski, announced Wednesday that he circulated draft rules he says will "preserve the freedom and openness of the Internet." No statement could better reflect the gulf between the rhetoric and the reality of Obama administration policies.

With a straight face, Mr. Genachowski suggested that government red tape will increase the "freedom" of online services that have flourished because bureaucratic busybodies have been blocked from tinkering with the Web. Ordinarily, it would be appropriate at this point to supply an example from the proposed regulations illustrating the problem. Mr. Genachowski's draft document has over 550 footnotes and is stamped "non-public, for internal use only" to ensure nobody outside the agency sees it until the rules are approved in a scheduled Dec. 21 vote. So much for "openness."

Source:  Read the complete article: Washington Times

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WHO IS FREE PRESS?

Who is Free Press? Free Press was founded by (avowed Marxist) Robert McChesney, Josh Silver and John Nichols.  While their website touts that they are a non-partisan, non-profit organization working to REFORM the media, that is just the beginning of the lies of "Free Press."  While you are looking into this organization, take some time to also check out Public Knowledge. 

The following video is from Glenn Beck's show on 12/09/10.  THE REVOLUTION IS NOW." The videos that Glenn has dug up on Robert McChesney, Van Jones and Josh Silver should SEND SHIVERS DOWN YOUR SPINES!

The chatter on the far left now is very disturbing. We have Al (Tawana Brawley) Sharpton calling for Rush Limbaugh to be forced off the air for his "racist" show. Attacks on Glenn Beck like nothing ever seen in the history of television and radio and attacks on Sean Hannityand any other speaking the truth. 

The FCC Chairman and 2 of his far left commissioners are declaring that "government control may be the answer to ensure that American citizens have access to news and information" and "every nappy headed child deserves free internet because it's a civil right."



 FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn Free Internet a Civil Right for Every Nappy-Headed Child 




Glenn Beck Part 1 of 4



Part 2 of 4


Part 3 of 4  



 Part 4 of 4


Free Press is an Anti-capitalist organization looking for another free hand out by us, the taxpayers.  They want the airwaves redistributed in the name of  "media justice" and they want any voice of dissent against the left that is speaking the truth to be SILENCED. 

Do your own research on any of these participants as I could take days to post all of the propaganda they've been spewing.  

Notice what their logo says, "reform media, transform democracy."  They want to "fundamentally transform" media using the government and the tax payer to fund this transformation.  They have no regard for the companies that have spent billions developing the infrastructure to deliver, phones, internet, cable and mobile phones. 

"Allowing Comcast to merge with NBC would be yet another giveaway to industry titans at the public's expense," said Free Press President and CEO Josh Silver, who testified at an FCC hearing in Chicago, on July 13, 2010. "Once people understand the size and scope of the deal, people overwhelmingly oppose it," Silver said.

The following 2 video are some I decided to post so you can see the propaganda and fear they are using to gain support and momentum from the far left and anti-capitalist, anti-American base.  Notice at the end of the 2nd video, one of the sponsors is Center For Media Justice and another is Main Street Project which just happens to be funded by George Soros and the Open Society.

 

12/02/10

On Thursday, Aug. 19, FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn will be in Minneapolis to hear from you about the future of the Internet -- and whether you want corporations like Google and Verizon to grab control of the Internet and shut down the most democratizing platform we've seen in generations.

The event, co-hosted by Free Press, Main Street Project and the Center for Media Justice, is free and will include comments from the public.

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Audio: FCC's Diversity Czar: 'White People' Need to be Forced to 'Step Down' 'So Someone Else Can Have Power'

Mark Lloyd is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s Chief Diversity Officer, a.k.a. the Diversity Czar. And he has in a recently discovered bit of archive audio goodness detailed his rather disturbing perspective on race, power and the American system.
(Audio located below, courtesy of Breitbart.tv and Naked Emperor News)
This is of course in addition to Lloyd's rather disturbing perspective on the First Amendment. 

"It should be clear by now that my focus here is not freedom of speech or the press. This freedom is all too often an exaggeration. At the very least, blind references to freedom of speech or the press serve as a distraction from the critical examination of other communications policies.

"[T]he purpose of free speech is warped to protect global corporations and block rules that would promote democratic governance."

And Lloyd's rather disturbing perspective on Venezuelan Communist dictator Hugo Chavez's "incredible...democratic revolution." To go with Lloyd's bizarre admiration for the thuggishly fascistic manner in which "Chavez began to take very seriously the media in his country." 

We have said repeatedly that Lloyd is a man myopically focused on race. What is revealed here is more than just that. Listening to excerpts of his offerings at a May 2005 Conference on Media Reform: Racial Justice reveals a man that finds great fault with our nation's power structure - as he defines and sees it. And in his racially-warped, finite pie worldview, too many white people sit alone in the too few spots atop the heap. They're "good white people," mind you, but ...

This... there's nothing more difficult than this. Because we have really, truly good white people in important positions. And the fact of the matter is that there are a limited number of those positions. And unless we are conscious of the need to have more people of color, gays, other people in those positions we will not change the problem.
We're in a position where you have to say who is going to step down so someone else can have power.

Read more: News Busters

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Senate GOP likely to force confrontation of FCC net neutrality rules

By: J.P. Freire 12/16/10 12:22 AM

 

Thirty senators have signed a letter making it clear that should the Federal Communications Commission implement "net neutrality" regulations during its December 21st meeting, the GOP will force a confrontation on the Senate floor over the rules. Doing so would provide insight into how Republicans, as a minority in the Senate, leverage its control over the House of Representatives to hamstring attempts by the executive branch to rule by regulatory fiat.
The letter questions the ability of the FCC to impose the regulations:

You and the Commission's general counsel have admitted in published statements that the legal justification for imposing these new regulations is questionable and "has a serious risk of failure in court." It is very clear that Congress has not granted the Commission the specific statutory authority to do what you are proposing. Whether and how the Internet should be regulated is something that America's elected representatives in Congress, not the Commission, should determine.

The letter is signed by Sens. John Ensign, R-Nev., Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, John McCain, R-Ariz., Kit Bond, R-Mo., Judd Gregg, R-N.H., Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Jim DeMint, R-S.C., James Risch, R-Idaho, Mike Johanns, R-Neb., John Thune, R-S.D., Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Robert Bennett, R-Utah, John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., John Cornyn, R-Texas, David Vitter, R-La., Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., Jim Bunning, R-Ky., Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Me., signed a separate letter also opposing the FCC ruling.

Read more at the Washington Examiner

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Related links:
MAG-net Transforming media to RACISM and POVERTY 
Free Press Videos 
Meet Robert McChesney

VIDEOS OF ROBERT MCCHESNEY:
PART 1 OF 6: Robert McChesney @ NYU Part 1 of 6


You should have enough here to understand just how dangerous FCC Commissioner Michael J Copps is as well as FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. 


The current adminstration is of the opinion that "we the people" are too stupid to be able to decide what type of news we want and are working to impose government control of the internet, radio, television and newspapers. 


I would suggest you contact your Senators and Congressman and well as the FCC and tell them to keep their hands off these media outlets.  We don't want the government deciding for us who we can listen to, what we can read and what television we need to watch.


The Committee On Energy And Commerce is the House dept that oversees the FCC:
Committee on Energy And Commerce


FCC Contact information
Chairman Julius Genachowski: Julius.Genachowski@fcc.gov
Commissioner Michael J. Copps: Michael.Copps@fcc.gov

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn: Mignon.Clyburn@fcc.gov

Commissioner Robert McDowell: Robert.McDowell@fcc.gov

Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker: Meredith.Baker@fcc.gov
FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker SLams Net Neutrality
Meredith Baker, FCC's Stand Up Commission 
FCC's Meredith Baker: Keep Government Out Of Journalism 
Act Two for FCC's Meredith Attwell Baker